


Forgiveness Freely Given

by Lenny9987



Series: Lenny's Imagine Claire and Jamie Prompts [55]
Category: Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 08:21:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17505014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenny9987/pseuds/Lenny9987
Summary: Prompt: I really want to know Jenny´s reaction when she heard (from Claire/Brianna) about Laoghaire´s involvement in Cranesmuir. There was not any in the book. I wonder – would she be at least shocked? She could confronted L. with that and be despised her and herself (With whom did I pushed my brother to marry with?)





	Forgiveness Freely Given

“Did ye hear what the lass said about Laoghaire?” Jenny asked as she brushed out her dress and skirts and laid them out for wearing again the next day. “Why d’ye think Claire never said about what happened between them? That the lass tried to have her killed.”

Ian sighed as he rubbed the soothing liniment into the sore stump of his leg. It was always a relief to take it off at the end of the day and crawl beneath the blankets. Tucked up, he could almost forget that the limb was gone, especially when his limbs twined with Jenny’s so that it looked like it might be his toes wiggling at the foot of the bed instead of hers. 

“If I’d kent what Laoghaire’d done, ye ken I never would ha’ pushed the match so,” Jenny continued, putting the brush down and shuffling to her side of the bed. 

“Are ye forgettin’ what it was like when Jamie first  _ brought _ Claire to Lallybroch?” Ian scoffed. “Ye were after scoldin’ him for bein’ away so long and then for assumin’ the worst of ye. And then there was the shock of his bein’ wed at all. We were strangers to Claire back then. And if she didna want to recount every detail of that ordeal when the smoke of the pire was likely still in her nostrils, I cannae say I blame her for it.”

Jenny huffed quietly and fiddled with the blankets, but Ian knew she’d understood the meaning behind his tone. He also knew that in having used it, it was only a matter of time before Jenny returned to a subject that continued to weigh on her mind. Though the appearance of Brianna earlier that day had guaranteed it would rear its head again before Jenny could sleep. 

“There’s so much she never told us,” Jenny said quietly as lay flat on her back staring up at the bedclothes. Her head turned on the pillow to face Ian. “I simply dinna understand why she couldna bring herself to tell us. We were family. How could she no ken what family’s for?”

Ian snorted as he reclined against his pillows, not ready to fully relax until Jenny had released enough of the frustration that built for weeks on end before bubbling over. 

“One thing she  _ did _ tell us was how young she was when she lost her family,” he reminded her. “ _ You _ ken how family shares and eases a burden but she never saw it—never felt it. Not before Jamie. And ye ken  _ he’s _ no exactly one to share o’er much. Takes the world on his shoulders and carries the weight whether it’s truly his to bear or not. They’re a pair that way.”

“Apparently so,” Jenny muttered, looking back up and closing her eyes for a moment, the fight to sleep turning inward.

Ian knew better and tapped his finger three times before Jenny’s eyelids flew back open and her head shifted to face him once more.

“Even if she never had the example set for her and even if she were disposed to keep her concerns and worries to herself,” Jenny resumed with a heavy note of annoyance, “how could she ever think to keep Brianna to herself like that? Did she think we wouldna do everything we could for Jamie’s child? Did she think we wouldna want to know?”

“Jenny,” Ian prodded gently. “I ken ye’re still troubled by what fell out between ye and Claire and the things Jamie said over yer… interference…” Jenny’s eyes shot to him, narrowed and defensive. “Maybe ye’d have others believe ye’re the one wronged in all of this and that ye did the best ye could wi’ what knowledge ye had,” he pressed on, knowing she needed someone to voice aloud what she was already telling herself. “But I think the reason ye’re unsettled is less to do wi’ Claire and more to do wi’ what ye did to Jamie.”

“I did what any sister would do for her brother if she found him in the state Jamie was in,” Jenny insisted. But Ian could see from the way she looked away from him again that he had hit on something. “I couldna bear to see him so lost and miserable. Anyone as met Laoghaire kens she’s no an easy woman but… Jamie managed well enough wi’ Claire and she’s no an easy woman either.”

Ian snorted and fought to stifle a laugh. “I suppose tha’s one way to liken them each to the other but I dinna think anyone as has met both would ever say they werena easy in similar ways.”

“Well Laoghaire had the lassies and they needed a man like Jamie,” Jenny retorted, her volume rising. “And he needed the like of those lassies as well.”

“Aye… but ye know ye kent deep down what ye were doing wouldna make him happy in the way he needed— _ Laoghaire _ wouldna make him happy.”

Jenny sighed with resignation at last. “No… but there wasna any way to make him happy in the way he needed. I did what I could.”

“Jenny… Ye’re Jamie’s sister. Of course ye want him to be happy. But ye’re no his mother and ye’re no his wife. There are hurts that it isna in yer power to heal, no matter how much ye may wish to. And ye cannae make him happy through force of will.” 

“No, but apparently I can make him wed a lass as would try to kill her competition for his affections.”

Ian finally shifted down in the bed so he was lying on his side and could snake an arm around Jenny’s waist, pulling her gently into his embrace. He felt the stubborn stiffness through her body before she finally relaxed and turned toward him, tucking her head beneath his chin. Reluctant though she was to admit her own mistakes, whenever she did there was none who could best her for the guilt she privately inflicted on herself in their wake… except perhaps, Jamie. 

“Ye made a mistake,” Ian soothed, continuing to hold her close. “It’s no the first and we both ken it willna be the last,” he teased lightly and was reassured when she gave him an indignant poke in the ribs. “Ye’ve always had trouble wi’ pushin’ the line between helpin’ and imposin’—wi’ Jamie more’n most.”

“How could I not when he was such a wee thing when Mam passed?” 

“I ken  _ why _ ye do it,” Ian chuckled. “But it doesna mean ye  _ should _ . If only to save yerself the grief that comes when ye overstep.” 

“Jamie seems to have forgiven me at least. Though, I suppose this explains why Claire reacted so badly when she learnt of Laoghaire.”

“I should say so,” Ian agreed. “And I believe Jamie earned some of yer forgiveness wi’ findin’ our lad. Perhaps ye can earn a bit of Claire’s wi’ carin’ for Brianna.”

“And what about Claire earning mine?” Jenny challenged, stubbornly. “Whatever Jamie suffered because of my actions, what about what we suffered because of Claire’s silence?”

“Maybe ye can forgive her for Jamie’s sake,” Ian suggested. “Is it no’ better to forgive freely than to push a person to beg for it?”

Jenny sighed again, further relaxing into Ian. 

“I cannae argue wi’ logic like that,” she capitulated half-heartedly, finally worn down and with a mind cleared for sleeping. 

Ian kissed her forehead and rolled to his back, pulling her with him so she draped over him, her cheek pressed to his chest and her hand resting lightly beside it. He reached up and covered it with his own. 

“Things’ll come right ‘tween the pair of us and Jamie and Claire,” he asserted. “Tha’s another thing about bein’ family. Ye find a way to make things right, no matter how long it takes.”

But Jenny’s breathing had already evened out and deepened into sleep. 


End file.
